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FMQ Teams bring the Weight
The Maverick Boat Flatsmasters Qualifying Tournament held on February 16th served two purposes. First and foremost the FMQ is about qualifying 15 new teams for the 2008 Flatsmasters Season. Secondly, it gives existing Flatsmasters Teams an opportunity to “fine tune” their teams and tournament procedures prior to the first Flatsmasters event on March 29, 30.
This year’s FMQ had 22 teams trying to qualify, while 20 teams were there for practice (and prize money)
Several new teams showed they could hang with the veterans by post weights good enough for 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th. Team Cape Regal Yacht Center (Buckner, Sands) weight an impressive 13.89lbs for second place, not enough to hold off the powerhouse team of Paul Lambert Const. (Lambert, Lambert, Jones) who put up a 2 redfish weight of 14.13lbs to take first place.
First Place-Team Paul Lambert Construction
Teams were required to catch 2 redfish using only Artificials. As in all Flatsmasters events, wading was allowed. 27 teams weighed in a total of 48 redfish. 15 teams qualified for the 2008 Maverick Boats Flatsmasters Series bringing the pre registered total to 110 teams. The Flatsmasters Series is the largest backcountry tournament series in Florida with over 1500 anglers participating in the 4 events and the championship. The first event of the year is The Grand Slam Plug Tournament on March 29, 30. The Grand Slam requires teams to catch a trout, redfish, and snook using only artificial lures. Each leg of Flatsmasters requires teams to catch a different combination of fish using either lures or natural bait depending on the event. Each Flatsmasters Tournament is filmed and produced into a one hour TV show on the SunSports TV network.